NEW YORK — Three days ago against Toronto, Houston Rockets center Omer Asik was a starter alongside Dwight Howard. On Thursday against the Knicks here at Madison Square Garden, it appeared that Asik had not only lost the starting job, but was out of the rotation altogether.

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After the game, coach Kevin McHale said that the DNP for Asik had nothing to do with a potential trade. “I talked to Omer today and I don’t know about any trade rumors, but he told me today that he wasn’t feeling good and he didn’t know if he could play,” McHale said. “I asked him, 'Are you ready to play?', and he said, 'I don’t feel good,' and that’s why we went with Greg (Smith).”

Asik left the locker room before reporters were granted access. Meanwhile, ESPN.com reports the Rockets have no plans to trade Asik.

Illness or no, the situation with the Rockets and Asik has been deteriorating since the first week of July, when Houston signed Howard. Asik was the Rockets’ starter last year, averaging 10.1 points and 11.7 rebounds in his first season with Houston, but was shopped around the league once the Howard deal went through. It was rumored that the New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers were interested, as were the Portland Trail Blazers, who eventually got center Robin Lopez.

After the Rockets could not find a suitable deal, Asik made it clear at the time that he did not want to be a bench player. Houston then came up with a creative solution — play both Asik and Howard together, with Asik at center and Howard at power forward.

That experiment proved to be a disaster, and in Wednesday night’s loss to the Sixers, McHale finally pulled Asik from the lineup and started second-year forward Terence Jones in his place. Asik played just 4:22 in the game, which went into overtime.

Against the Knicks, McHale appeared determined not to put Asik into the game. Smith was McHale’s first choice to back up Howard, and even after Smith went down hard with a leg injury with 1:46 to go in the first quarter, Asik remained glued to the bench. McHale went with a very small lineup that included guards Jeremy Lin, James Harden and Francisco Garcia with forwards Jones and Omri Casspi.